The Facts of Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight Saga
The Twilight Series was written by the American author Stephenie Meyer and is currently a series of four books based on vampires and romance. In brief, the books are about a young lady who re-locates with her father to Washington and then finds that her life changes dramatically because of her love for a vampire.
The total copies sold of the Twilight saga series amounts to over 42 million since they were first on sale in 2005. The books have been translated into 37 different languages.
Stephenie Meyer was the largest selling author of 2008 with sales reaching over and above the 22 million mark. She was in 2009 included in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list where she entered at number 26. In addition, she was also named USA Today’s Author of the Year in 2008. Its all looking very rosy indeed for Ms Meyer!
So, how is it you are probably asking, that the concept for Twilight actually came to be?
Back in 2003 the concept behind the Twilight Saga was nothing but a dream. The dream, as we now know, was about a young (human) lady falling in love with a young (vampire) gentleman. And even though he loved her tremendously he could not but thirst for her blood at the same time.
And for any of you out there who are aspiring writers but feel you do not have enough experience to really get anywhere; well, Stephenie Meyer wrote her dream out and it was published within three months. How is that for a great example to follow?
After the novel was written and then edited she joined forces with a publishing house by the name of Little, Brown and Company where they agreed a three book deal and she pocketed three quarters of a million US dollars. Nice going, has to be said!
Stephenie soon went on to write a further three novels after gaining huge success with the first. New Moon was published in 2006, Eclipse then published in 2007 and finally Breaking Dawn in 2008.
The fourth novel – “Breaking Dawn” is expected to be the last in the Twilight series that is seen from the point of view of Bella Swan, the lead female character in the story. Midnight Sun will be the next book.
It was unfortunate that Midnight Sun was leaked onto the internet ” well, the first 12 drafted chapters were anyhow. After this incident Stephenie Meyer decided to postpone the release of the book indefinitely.
So, how about the inspiration behind Stephenies’ creation? Well, as is often the case, Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte ” the English novelist of the mid 19th century is among her favorites along with Anne of Green Gables written by L.M. Montgomery the early 20th century Canadian novelist were both highly instrumental in her thinking. Having said this though, each book in the Twilight series was inspired by a different specific novel:
Twilight: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
New Moon ” Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Eclipse: Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Breaking Dawn: William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and A Merchant of Venice
All traditional favorite English authors.
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